Gutierrez Visits Puerto Rico & Chicagoans Protest Trump Administration's Response
By aaroncynic in News on Sep 29, 2017 7:15PM
Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez will head to Puerto Rico Friday to survey the utter devastation the U.S. territory suffered due to Hurricane Maria.
"I want to go to hear from people there personally and what they want me to bring back to people of Chicago and to Congress of USA," Gutierrez told NBC before his flight. "No one can believe we are actually as a US government doing everything we can. Things are not good there."
Gutierrez, the son of Puerto Rican parents, checked three bags of “mostly food, antibiotics, and insect repellent,” for his flight to San Juan, where he will meet with the city’s mayor, according to CBS.
“Is there a personal objective? Absolutely; to return to that island, and for my family to see me there,” he told the network. “Then, my broader family; 3.4 million people. I want to go and talk to as many of them as possible.”
The mayor of San Juan blasted acting secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke for comments on Thursday lauding the Trump administration’s response to the disaster, which falls somewhere between less than inept and an abject failure focused solely on managing public relations rather than actually getting relief to millions of people without power, supplies, or even clean drinking water. “I know it’s a hard storm to recover from,” said Duke, according to the Washington Post. “I know it is really a good news story in terms of our ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken place in such a devastating hurricane.
Speaking to CNN Friday morning, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz called the dire situation in Puerto Rico a “life or death story.”
“When you are drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. I’m sorry, but that really upsets me and frustrates me. Frankly, it’s an irresponsible statement...Damn it, this is not a good news story. This is a people are dying story.”
"Dammit, this is not a good news story": San Juan mayor slams acting DHS Secretary Duke's comments about Puerto Rico https://t.co/Lx5pOp6iFs
— Joshua Chavers (@JoshuaChavers) September 29, 2017
This congressman had the best takedown of President Trump's disastrous handling of the crisis in Puerto Rico pic.twitter.com/fu88N5yeTW
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) September 29, 2017
"Mr. President, you say it's a small island out there in the ocean. Well, you built a golf course there so you obviously know where it's at because you've played golf there many times," said Gutierrez.
Earlier this week, he and New York Congressman Joe Crowley penned a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis requesting a meeting to discuss what role the military could play in the relief effort, citing its roles in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina and in Hati after a devastating earthquake as examples of how the armed forces are the best positioned to coordinate and provide efforts.
DoD has the capability & capacity to do much more to help our fellow Americans in #PuertoRico. My letter w/ @RepGutierrez to Sec Mattis ↓ pic.twitter.com/Lmdovpu2U9
— Rep. Joe Crowley (@repjoecrowley) September 28, 2017
Chicagoans also plan to protest the administration’s response to the disaster Friday evening during rush hour at Trump Tower. The group Chicago Boricua Resistance will host a demonstration near the building on Wabash and Wacker at 5pm demanding the government distribute the supplies its holding, lift the Jones Act for good, authorize the use of military personnell and equipment for relief efforts “not repression,” fully fund the recovery, and cancel the territory’s debt.
“While Puerto Rico is suffering and calling for help the President of the United States is fixated on his Twitter account,” said Miguel Alvelo of the CBR in a press release emailed to Chicagoist. “The indifference of this administration to the suffering of Puerto Ricans is nothing less than racist. It's a violation and denial of the most basic human needs.”